I have worked in a number of organizations where my skills of delivering turnkey Greenfield Procurement Operations was required to give the marriage of 2 or more newly acquired organizational cultures and people a better chance of survival. What is needed is to understand the people, systems, cultures, operations etc so that the combined entity can deliver on its promises made on or before the wedding day i.e. the merger.
So why this blog today? Well, I met a very interesting man the other day whose organization buys other consultancy organizations like Emeryst. I am not averse to the idea of merging or even being absorbed in a new structure because if that is how my team and I can serve and bring our experience, strengths and discernment to more customers, well where is my ring?
Thinking back to the organizations where I had to be the cement that was going to bind all of these disparate entities together, I remember how difficult and sometimes uncoordinated these post-mergers situations really were. Most of the ‘merge’ decisions were made in boardrooms with very little understanding or thought given to whether the cultures and people of the organizations could mesh. The other big obstacle to the honeymoon period came in the form of systems not being compatible or not being able to integrate without a considerable amount of investment and resources. Yet, the end game – reduce the competitive market/absorb the other company’s customer base/enlarge the potential income/kill off the competition, the drivers which made the boardroom decision so attractive, propels organizations into a sometimes ill-advised merger. Forge-ahead they do and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
The challenge of doing my job and getting at least the Procurement Backbone sorted out and operational, is an amazing one. I love a challenge and also to figure out how I can get the two teams to see that I come in peace and only want to help them. So, I take it on, because that is what I do and who I am.
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